Finding Microfilmed Newspapers: Difference between revisions

[[Image:New York Times.jpg|thumb|left]]Newspapers, especially obituaries, are one of my favorite genealogical tools. They are typically filled with family information, sometimes tell is about a person's education and career, tell us what church the person attended and where they are buried. But sometimes finding the newspaper you need can be difficult. There are some on-line resources: Proquest for large cities (New York, Chicago) and NewspaperArchive for many smaller cities. But these only scratch the surface; for the vast majority of cities and towns in the U.S. we must depend on microfilm. <br>And how do we find the microfilm? We typically have (if we are lucky) a place and a date. Library catalogs usually give us options for searching that include Title, Author, Subject, and Keyword; not very useful. But there is a relatively new network of library catalogs called [http://www.worldcat.org/whatis WorldCat], a network of library catalogs. It is also the repository for the [http://www.neh.gov/projects/usnp.html U.S. Newspaper Program] and, as such, contains information about a huge number of microfilmed newspapers.<br><br>[[Image:Firstsearchhome.jpg|right|400px]]OK, you ask, exactly how do we go about using WorldCat to find newspapers? Back to the local library; almost all provide access either directly to WorldCat or through FirstSearch. If you go into your library’s web site and find only FirstSearch you will get a page that looks like this; click on WorldCat (circled in red).  

<br>[[Image:Worldcat.jpg|right|400px]]Now you are into WorldCat, but be sure that you are in Advanced Search, as shown here (again, circled in red).  

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